At Stick Shift, we have a tradition of commemorating festive occasions—such as Passover, Easter, and Thanksgiving—in an offbeat, automotive fashion. Yet no “holiday” gets our engines revving quite like Mother’s Day.

But Mother’s Day is really all about family. So this year, we got the whole mishpuchah together—10 of our favorite automotive journalists—and asked them to select the new car they’d have wanted their mothers to drive during their childhood. (Think of it as a hole in the space/time continuum large enough through which to pilot a Honda Pilot.) Of course, choosing a fantasy gift car for a reimagined maternal past does not excuse any of them, or any of you, from calling mom on Sunday, or sending flowers.

BMW 328d xDrive Touring

My proudly Jewish mother would’ve rather died than have been caught driving a German car. But what child hasn’t wished his mother dead? Also, who is the car expert in this family, she or I? For around $50,000, this potent, agile, luxurious schlepper is the whole megillah—with room for all four Berk kids and all-wheel drive for those Detroit winters. Plus it gets about 45 m.p.g. What’s Yiddish for “waltzing with Hitler,” Mom? —Brett Berk, automotive columnist, Vanity Fair